News of the Day III

[Puckhead]

Sounds like self inflicted damage if he supports impeachment only to vote no

Massive hypocrisy has never been in short supply for Mitch and Republican leadership..

[ChaseSpace]

And Bitch McConnell refuses to reconvene the Senate so the impeachment proceedings won't take place until Biden has taken office.

[RSchmitz]

And Bitch McConnell refuses to reconvene the Senate so the impeachment proceedings won't take place until Biden has taken office.

oof

[Bolthed]

Eh, what?

[RSchmitz]

100 million in 100 days. If we can do that, can things get back to normal?

[pete]

We'll be on our way, but 100/100 doesn't get us all the way to the ultimate goal, especially considering everyone needs 2 doses each.

The thing about the 100/100 goal, is presumably by the time you get to day 75 or so you'll be cranking these out at a high enough rate that we will have the kinks worked out to do more than 100 million doses in the subsequent 100 days.

[jdhebner]

We should begin to see a notable reduction in the number of daily deaths and ICU occupancy around the beginning of April. Provided Trump doesn't screw things up again, his followers don't have a lot of super spreader events, if people stop acting like privileged dicks and wear masks, if the Russians don't incite any more civil unrest by organizing massive anti vaccine campaigns, if RFK doesn't get any attention other than being called the delusional liar that he is. Oh wait. We. Are. Doomed.

[Bolthed]

To get to 70% we need 463 million jabs. Sadly I think it’s gonna take all year.

[Puckhead]

Instead of the important hearings being held on the Hill this morning and the upcoming inauguration, Fox is offering it s viewers The Honduran "caravan", Gym Jordan, and the WSJ opining on what D's are saying about "deprogramming" Trump voters. They are not going to help tame down the anxiety and agitation. They have to protect their right flanks from Newsmaxx and Oann.

[pete]

The Honduran caravan story is intended as a trap for the Biden Administration for when they return to the normal, internationally-accepted from a human rights perspective operating procedure of giving asylum seekers at the border due process for their requests. Every spike in volume at the border will be breathlessly reported out by Fox/OANN/Newsmax that Trump's policy was the only thing keeping America from illegal immigration armageddon and that the Biden Administration is a soft failure on border security.

The tell is, of course, that it's a caravan story and we all know the caravan stories are right wing bullshit.

The antidote is to pass comprehensive immigration reform. I'm not sure that can happen expeditiously, though, without a different Senate composition either from Democratic gains in the 2022 midterms or by adding DC and/or Puerto Rico as states prior to then.

Note: there is a legal case that adding states is not "legislation" and is therefore not subject to the filibuster rules in the Senate, which means it could conceivably pass with 50+VP tiebreaker. Also note that Manchin has said he's open to adding DC as a state. Democrats *might* actually get a little gangster for a change if McConnell doesn't play nice with Biden. The addition of 2-4 new presumably Democratic Senators would free Manchin to vote no on a few things like filibuster reform, immigration reform, etc., while still getting Democrats to the majorities they need to move forward them. Really, if I were Manchin, I might be enthusiastic to take the hit now to add DC as a state, and then he can be a contrarian dick/maverick to his heart's delight as theater for the folks back in WV and the Democrats can still get their work done.

[Bolthed]

If DC gets statehood, why would PR not also get the same at the exact same time?

Bonus points if you answer this question saying the quiet part out loud. 🤫

[ChaseSpace]

Also, just nuke the filibuster. Everyone and Putin's dog knows McConnell is gonna abuse it every chance he gets to stall meaningful legislation. It's nothing more than a tool for parties that are less popular to stop legislation the majority of people support.

[pete]

If DC gets statehood, why would PR not also get the same at the exact same time?

Bonus points if you answer this question saying the quiet part out loud. 🤫

Puerto Rico has to have a binding referendum to accept statehood.

[dannybolt]

Also, just nuke the filibuster. Everyone and Putin's dog knows McConnell is gonna abuse it every chance he gets to stall meaningful legislation. It's nothing more than a tool for parties that are less popular to stop legislation the majority of people support.

The reasoning behind keeping it is that Democrats won't always be in power. It's also a means to stop ill informed legislation and to help prevent a tyranny of the majority. Whether or not that is how it is currently being used is another argument. It is irresponsible politics to make long-term decisions (and this would have consequences for decades or longer) based on short-term problems (which in the grand scheme of things, McConnell's recent intransigence, is).

[Flycoon]

The reasoning behind keeping it is that Democrats won't always be in power. It's also a means to stop ill informed legislation and to help prevent a tyranny of the majority. Whether or not that is how it is currently being used is another argument. It is irresponsible politics to make long-term decisions (and this would have consequences for decades or longer) based on short-term problems (which in the grand scheme of things, McConnell's recent intransigence, is).

McConnell’s intransigence may be recent in the scheme of the history of the Republic, but it has been nearly 12 years since he stated his objective of making Obama a one term president. He CAN NOT be trusted.